Thirteen Gifts
by Lomonaaeren
Summary: HPTN. Not expecting that he would get a response, Theo sent Harry a gift to tell him how much he admired him for his defeat of Voldemort. And then, wonder of wonders, Harry replied. The tale of two people learning to see each other. Threeshot. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Thirteen Gifts  
 **Disclaimer:** J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.  
 **Pairing:** Harry Potter/Theodore Nott  
 **Content Notes:** Getting together, Hogwarts "eighth year," angst, present tense  
 **Rating:** R  
 **Wordcount:** 3300  
 **Summary:** Not expecting that he would get a response, Theo sent Harry a gift to tell him how much he admired him for his defeat of Voldemort. And then, wonder of wonders, Harry replied. The tale of two people learning to see each other.  
 **Author's Notes:** This is another of my "From Samhain to the Solstice" fics, for a request by Lullyanne for another Harry/Theodore fic. This will be the first part of three.

 **Thirteen Gifts**

 _Carved Raven_

Theodore halts in front of the small shop in Diagon Alley, staring. The window of the shop is filled with a lot of junk, honestly; there's what looks like a miniature wand, too small to be of any use, and a piece of "unicorn's horn" that undoubtedly isn't, and a cracked bowl that might be made of mahogany. But the raven stands out.

The raven is carved from a dark wood that shimmers in the soft light pouring down from the shop's enchantment, impressive in the way that almost none of the objects are. The wood has a slight red sheen. _Cherry_? Theo wonders, stepping back. He shakes his head a second later. If it is, it's richer and closer to black than any he's ever seen.

The raven is crouched forwards, wings hunched and raised as if for flight. It has its beak slightly open, and its head tilted to the side. The one eye visible from this part of the window gleams with what Theo can imagine is a roguish intelligence. He doesn't even have to imagine it that hard.

Theo smiles a little. This is—he's been looking, idly, for a gift that would express his appreciation for Harry Potter's saving of the world. And nothing he's seen so far has seemed appropriate. They were too small or too large or too Slytherin. Getting Harry Potter a carved serpent would probably not be appreciated.

The shade of the wood now reminds him of Potter's hair, but honestly, it's not the color that he resembles the most in Theo's mind. It's the _attitude_ of the raven, the way that it looks as if it's about to fling itself at life. Theo thinks Potter is like that, even though he's only seen him in newspaper photographs since the end of the war.

Theo steps into the shop. He knows he's going to buy the raven and send it to Potter. His birthday is next week. Probably he'll be flooded with gifts, and not know or care about an obscure Slytherin's.

But Theo wants to do it anyway. The raven is too perfect to let pass by.

And if this leads to something more than that, an acknowledgement of some kind—Theo would be a fool to let that pass by, too.

* * *

 _Formal Note_

Harry leans back and smiles a little as he watches Helios wing his way into the Great Hall. He didn't intend to get another owl so soon, not when he was still reeling from Hedwig's loss, but someone sent him Helios, and Harry's attempts to set him free or pawn him off on Hermione didn't work. Every morning when he woke up, Helios was sitting on his perch again, staring at Harry accusingly.

He's a handsome bastard, a black eagle-owl with a spray of grey feathers on his head and the golden eyes that resemble the sun and got him his name. And he's big enough to carry packages when Harry wants to send them.

Right now, he's carrying a light scroll tied with a golden and red ribbon, but he bears it as proudly as if it _were_ a package that weighed ten pounds.

Harry lets his smile widen as Helios lands on the Slytherin table in front of Theo Nott. Theo blinks at the scroll and at Harry. Either he's seen Helios flying around and knows he's Harry's—he _would_ be hard to miss—or he's just making the logical connection when it comes to a scroll with Gryffindor colors and the Gryffindor he sent a gift to recently.

Nott opens the scroll as carefully as if it's from George's shop and will blow up in his face. Then his eyebrows fly up as he reads it. Harry inclines his head a little and goes back to his breakfast, while Helios waits imperiously for Nott to feed him with a piece of sausage or bacon. Unlike Hedwig, he won't get fobbed off with something that isn't meat.

Harry's heart aches a little at the thought of Hedwig, and at the thought of George running his shop alone. But he's healing. He's coming back to life.

And the carved raven that he keeps on the table beside his bed is one symbol of that.

* * *

"Potter? Can I talk to you privately?"

Potter turns around with an easy smile, as if he anticipated Theo's request. His friends don't seem to have. They bristle and growl, and Theo rolls his eyes. "I'm not going to do anything to him, Weasley, Weasley, Granger, Longbottom."

"You'd better not," Longbottom says softly. He's been hovering behind Potter like a bodyguard for days now. Potter honestly doesn't seem to notice. He just nods at Longbottom with a slightly confused smile before he follows Theo into a classroom that no one wants to use now. Too many memories of the Carrows torturing people here for the unlucky ones who remained at Hogwarts last year.

Theo himself could have taken his NEWTS over the summer and probably passed, but he didn't want to. He wanted to return and walk the corridors of Hogwarts with the innocents and the ones who didn't get to come here last year.

He is not his father.

"What is it, Nott?"

"The scroll you sent me. A thanks for the gift and—a promise for a favor. Any favor I want. Don't you know the danger of that, Potter?"

Potter blinks and shakes his head. For a second, Theo thinks he looks simple, but then he looks deeper into Potter's eyes and catches his breath. Here is a man who understands some of the power that he has in their world, after all.

"Some people might take advantage of it. But I know you won't, Nott."

" _How_ do you know? We've never so much as spoken before. I was one of the ones who stayed behind last year."

"Because you're a pure-blood and your father was a Death Eater, I know. But no one who sent me that raven could want to use that favor to entrap me and take revenge on me for winning the war."

And there it is, the source of that power shining out of those brilliant green eyes. Potter makes people around him better by _believing_ they're better. Theo finds he has no notion of disappointing Potter, naïveté or not.

In fact, he finds something almost Gryffindor waiting at the bottom of his soul. He takes a deep breath. "Then I'm going to use that favor right now."

Potter's eyes widen a little. "If you want me to free your father, then I'm going to need more time with the Ministry. It won't be instant."

"No," Theo says harshly. Potter tilts his head like the raven carving, and Theo says, a little startled that he's explaining, "He would try to force me back onto the path into the Dark Arts. Maybe I would have wanted to explore them at one point, but I'm never going to do something I'm _forced_ into."

"Yeah?" Potter smiles. "I'll keep that in mind."

Theo licks his lips. Maybe this favor he's going to ask for isn't completely insane after all. "Will you come to Hogsmeade with me on Saturday?"

Potter lifts his head and looks Theo up and down, as if he's looking at some extension of his body that Theo didn't even know existed. And then he smiles and nods, and it's as if Theo is walking in soft sunlight.

"Yes. I'd be delighted."

* * *

 _Crystalline Pendant_

"It's beautiful. But I don't understand what it is."

Harry turns the chain back and forth in front of him. It's slender and seems to be made of small gold links, although for all Harry knows they aren't pure gold. No—Theo is always telling him that he needs to learn not to be fooled by shoddy imitations.

On the end of the chain is a faceted, raised piece of crystal with a boss in the middle. The facets make red and green sparks leap and dance as Harry turns the pendant. If he put the chain over his head, he knows the pendant would hang down extremely far on his chest.

And the chain also looks lopsided, as if the pendant is meant to hang to one side, too.

"Let me show you."

Theo steps up to Harry, his eyes brilliant and his cheeks glowing as though the cold winds of October have stirred them to a blaze. Harry averts his eyes a little as he turns his back so Theo can drape the pendant around his neck. Sometimes it still surprises him that anyone can look at _him_ that way.

Theo adjusts the chain carefully, his fingers lingering and brushing against Harry's neck. Harry closes his eyes and tries to adjust his breathing the same way. He has to _think_ before he goes charging into anything with Theo. Dating him is nice and fun, and snogging him is even more fun, but—

 _More than that_ is going to take some thinking.

"Like this," Theo breathes into his ear.

Harry snaps his eyes open, and Theo turns Harry around and kisses him.

Harry falls easily into the familiar rhythm of sweeping tongues, his hands rising to grip Theo's shoulders. Theo laughs and breaks away from him, shaking his head. They're on the path leading from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, and any second someone is going to come along, Harry reminds himself. He coughs a little and tries to adjust his stance so that he's not so obviously _hard_.

"Look at where the pendant hangs," Theo says, licking his lips with a motion that Harry traces with his eyes.

When Harry actually listens to those words, he blinks and looks down. The pendant is hanging off to the side of his chest, not in the middle. In fact, that raised boss, which is shining now with a color deeper than steel usually has, is hanging right over his heart.

"So you mean—"

"Yes. It'll deflect curses aimed at your heart. It'll defend you from spells aimed at your chest in general, but not as well. They'll probably only break apart if they hit the crystal's facets. Anything that hits the boss is just going to be dispelled."

"It's like you."

"What do you mean?"

Harry can feel his face changing colors. Fuck, he should _not_ have said that. But Theo is looking at him intently, and his cheeks are still bright, and Harry reaches out and winds his fingers through a curl of Theo's crisp hair.

"I mean that it's beautiful and—a lot stronger than it looks under the surface."

"Beautiful, am I?"

"At least I didn't say _pretty_ ," Harry retorts, because Theo's voice is full of gentle laughter and Harry is no longer worried that he's deeply offended.

Theo lifts his fingers and nips at Harry's thumb with sharp teeth. "I'm too sharp to be pretty."

And that's true at least, Harry has to admit. Theo's face has the sort of pointy look that used to belong to Malfoy, but it's more the keenness of his intelligence that sets his eyes alight and makes him look so sharp.

"Come here, so that I can snog you more deeply for giving me such a nice gift."

Theo does _that_ with a will.

* * *

 _Mirror_

"How did you even find out that it was my birthday?"

Harry only grins at him, the kind of grin that Theo knows by now means that he won't say, and continues to shove the box at him. It's wrapped in deep blue paper, and even though Theo is learning to attach less importance to House colors now, he's still grateful for the lack of red and gold. "I have my sources. Some of whom are easily bribed and talk a lot when they're on Firewhisky."

"Draco. I'll—"

Theo says that and then ends up catching his breath and staring stupidly because he lifted the lid off the box. It wasn't wrapped at all, only covered in a dark blue velvet like a jewelry box. Staring up at him from the bottom of the box is a shimmering mirror that has communication runes carved around the sides of it.

"Harry. Do you even know what this _is_?"

Harry smiles sadly. "Yes, I do know. It's one of a pair of mirrors that my godfather gave me during—during fifth year." He sets his shoulders and leans against the wall beside the door of the Slytherin common room. "He said we could use them to communicate, and like an idiot, I forgot about them. It was partially the cause of his death."

Theo touches the mirror gently. He has no idea what to say.

"I got so angry that I broke mine," Harry continues softly. "I've repaired it now, but it still shows this skewed image when someone else tries to talk with me. I thought I'd give you the better one."

Theo swallows. The expense of the gift is one thing; he doesn't know anyone who has a functioning pair of these mirrors. Black must have dug them out of some family treasury somewhere. The meaning of it is something else entirely.

"You don't have to."

"Oh, yes, I do, birthday boy. How else am I going to talk to you over the Christmas holidays when you go off to your gloomy manor house somewhere and I'm at the Burrow with the Weasleys? Helios will be happy to deliver messages, but I want to talk to you more often than that. And see you."

Theo hesitates, his fingers playing with the velvet pile in the box that the mirror lies on. He hadn't got to the point of asking for what he wanted yet, but knows the moment's come. "I sort of hoped that—you'd spend a few days at that gloomy manor house with me."

Harry straightens up and looks at him, eyes ablaze. It's an odd reaction, but Theo knows by now that odd reactions are par for the course with Harry Potter. His—boyfriend. _That's_ odder than anything.

"I'd love to," Harry says softly. "I do need to go to the Burrow, but a few days—maybe New Year's?"

"Yes," Theo says, and smiles. He can stand being alone on Christmas Day for the promise of having Harry to see in the new year with him.

"Good. Now, come here for your birthday snog."

Theo does make sure to put the mirror carefully out of the way before he leans in for his other gift.

* * *

 _Offered Bracelet_

"Harry, what is _that_?"

Ginny's voice is so sharp that Harry glances at her in concern as he unwraps Theo's gift. He actually would have preferred to do it in private, but Helios arrived with the package yesterday, and Molly insisted on it being put under the tree with everything else.

"It's a bracelet," Harry says, turning back to the box and blinking a little. Theo got him the pendant, and Harry thought that would be enough jewelry considering they're both boys. Then again, the pendant has defensive magic, so maybe Theo is mentally putting it in a different category. He holds the bracelet up. It has red gems, he thinks maybe rubies, interspersed on shining silver and copper wire with bright clear stones.

Hermione gasps and surges to her feet in one motion. Harry tucks the bracelet down near his side. His first thought, absurd as it is, is that she's going to try to take the bracelet away and have it tested for charms the way she did with the Firebolt in their third year.

"Do you know what that _is_?" Hermione demands, stepping up to him and making a snatching motion at the bracelet. Harry holds it closer to him.

"No. I was just explaining to Ginny that—"

"It's set with rubies and moonstones."

"What does that have to do—"

"Rubies are symbolic of kings, and the wealth and power of kings." Hermione is speaking in a low tone, her eyes wide, locked on the bracelet as if she expects the rubies to get off the wire and dance. "Whoever sent you this is saying that she values you more than all the wealth she possesses, and offering to share it with you. And the moonstones…they have a lot of associations, but on a lover's bracelet on this one, they're a symbol of true love."

"Lover's bracelet?" Harry is just glad that he managed to get a complete sentence out when Hermione turns to him with a sharp exhale, shaking her head.

"Do you even understand what it is?"

" _No_!" That finally makes Hermione take a step back. Harry takes a sharp breath and continues, "That's what I've been trying to tell people. No, I don't understand what this is. I don't know what the stones symbolize. And now you tell me that it's a lover's bracelet? Come on, Hermione, do I look as though I was doing research on things like that?"

Hermione's face softens. "No. It means—it's the same function as an engagement ring in the wizarding world. For pure-blood wizards and witches, anyway. Most of them don't use engagement rings. They use rings only for the marriage itself. Harry, this is a serious declaration."

Harry stares at the bracelet. Theo was talking about courtship in the days before they left Hogwarts for the Christmas holiday, but it all seemed to be about how his father courted his mother. Harry listened and liked the stories the same way he liked the _Tales of Beedle the Bard_ , but he didn't make the connection. "So someone wants to court me?"

"Yes, that's the way I would put it."

Harry looks around the bright, lighted Weasley drawing room, and blushes when he sees how many eyes are intently focused on him. Then he swallows and locks the bracelet around his right wrist. It shimmers and then settles into his skin, the silver and copper actually blending with the skin itself. Now it looks like he has a sort of complicated tattoo on his arm with real jewels attached to it.

"Harry! Why did you decide to do that? You can't take this off unless you both agree that the courtship is ended and you return all the gifts she's given you…"

"I know who it's from. I know he's serious."

That makes Ginny gasp and Molly stare at him and George lift his head as though he's heard a whistle down the wind. Hermione clamps her mouth shut.

Harry knows they would call him reckless if he told them, but there's a longing so old and deep in him that he doesn't know if he has the words for it. He wants to be loved. He's felt that way since he lay under the stairs in his cupboard at the Dursleys' and heard Petunia and Vernon cooing about how much they loved Dudley.

Theo is never someone he would have thought before this year would want to court him, but he's serious. Harry wants that seriousness. Maybe it'll all end up crumbling to pieces anyway—with his luck, Harry wouldn't be surprised—but he wants to take the risk. If Theo can love him, and this bracelet says he might, then Harry can't bring himself to reject him.

Harry looks down at the bracelet, and smiles.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for the reviews!

 _Part Two_

"I wanted to make sure that I didn't misunderstand the bracelet."

That's the first thing Harry says when he comes out of the fireplace, and Theo's heart seizes for a second, because Harry might reject him, he might—

Then he sees how the bracelet has welded itself to Harry's wrist, and he relaxes with a sigh that makes it feel as if his chest has deflated. Yes, Harry has accepted the courtship, or he wouldn't have bonded to the bracelet like that. It would be sitting around his wrist or would have flexed and broken apart.

Theo comes to him and kisses him, soot on his lips and all. Harry accepts it eagerly, scooping a hand around the back of Theo's neck to bring him closer. Theo gasps, and Harry's tongue darts into his mouth, along with the soft sound of Harry's laughter.

"I want you," Harry says, stepping back and resting his hands on Theo's chest when the kiss is done. "I don't know if I can say that I love you, yet, or I want to marry you. But I _want_ those things, Theo. I want to marry someone who loves me and live happily ever after. I just have to be sure if you—if that's what you mean, or if the rubies and moonstones mean something other than sharing and protection."

"And love. Granger interpreted that for you, didn't she?"

Harry nods, never looking away from Theo. His face is flushed, but that could be the kiss as easily as fear. Theo supposes he shouldn't be amazed that Harry has the courage to discuss this so openly, when he had courage enough to fight the Dark Lord, but somehow he is. He stretches his hand out and lets his fingers linger on Harry's cheek. Harry closes his eyes and nuzzles his cheek into Theo's palm, but his body is still straight with waiting.

"Let's go have dinner, and I'll tell you what _I_ think it means," Theo says, holding out his hand.

Harry takes it, and follows Theo towards the smells of food. It's not hunger making Theo dizzy, though.

 _He really will accept—he's ready—_

That acceptance makes his mouth water and turns his head.

* * *

The feast is delicious, all sorts of delicate dishes with French names that Harry might not have liked if someone had asked him, but hell, he _slurps_ them up. Theo grins at him more than once, until some thought seems to strike him and his face turns dark and moody.

"What is it?" Harry asks quietly, laying aside the last spoon. The pudding seemed to be absolutely made of whipped cream and chocolate, with some pieces of fruit floating in the middle, lost and lonely. He puts his chin on his hands and grins at Theo. He looks absurdly handsome with the chandelier in the ceiling throwing light over his face.

"If you—Harry, when you eat like that, it makes me wonder what you got to eat at your relatives' house," Theo begins, looking at him warily.

Harry thinks he knows why. He _might_ explode, after all. He sighs a little and stares at the wall, then shakes his head. "I'll tell you, but I want you to keep in mind that I reconciled with my cousin before the end."

Theo narrows his eyes a little. "I didn't say anything about your cousin."

 _Because you don't know to,_ Harry thinks, but he explains, quietly, the cupboard and how the Dursleys liked to lock him in and say "no meals" and, later, shove cans of cold coup through the cat flap. Theo grows stiff in his seat as Harry talks about splitting the soup with Hedwig, and Harry hesitates. "I got more food than they thought," he says. "Especially after I started coming to Hogwarts and Mrs. Weasley would send me things."

Theo hisses something unintelligible. At the moment, Harry thinks no one would believe that _he's_ the Parselmouth.

"It's all right, really," Harry tries to soothe him. "I know it sounds horrible, but I lived through it. And like I said, I reconciled with my cousin before the end. I saved his life from Dementors the summer between my fourth and fifth years. He was a lot better after that."

"But your aunt and uncle?"

"I've never seen them again. And I'm not sorrowful about that."

Theo runs his hands through his hair for a minute. Then he stands up and comes around the table. He clenches his hands on Harry's shoulders, and Harry looks at him and reaches out to gently wrap his hand around Theo's. Theo just looks so _unhappy_.

"I wanted to tell you the truth so that you would know it. But I never meant to make you upset."

"I can't travel back in time and change the past," Theo says, his voice low and charged. "But Harry, I want you to know that you are welcome to _anything_ I have. Your generosity, when you went out with a Slytherin after the war—"

"Why generosity? It's not like you did anything to me."

"But I never did anything _for_ you, either. And it's—Harry, when I think that we wouldn't even be here if I hadn't seen that raven in the shop window and sent it to you—"

Harry stops Theo's mouth with his tongue. Honestly, he doesn't want to think about that chance running away from them, either. He kisses Theo carefully and cleverly, and rubs his bracelet against Theo's cheek, and Theo breaks away, gasping.

"What do the copper and silver wire on the bracelet mean?" Harry asks into his ear, and nibbles it when Theo seems _just_ about to catch his breath, so that he loses it again.

"They m-mean— _I_ think they mean the sun and the moon," Theo finally gasps out. Harry slips off the chair and stands behind Theo, letting his hand with the bracelet rub against Theo's back. Theo _really_ likes that, if the way he juts his hips forwards into the air is any indication. "You're safe by sun and by moon as long as you wear that. I promise to protect you at all times of the day and night."

Harry smiles into Theo's neck as he reaches over his shoulder to rub his groin. "Well. I think that right now, I don't need protecting."

"Yeah?"

"Right now I need _pleasure_."

Theo nearly drives him into the wall with his acceptance snog, before he drags Harry up the stairs to his bedroom.

* * *

The manor is never going to seem lonely again, Theo thinks, as he lays Harry down on his bed. It's been _echoing_ this holiday, except for the rare times he got to speak to Harry on his mirror. His father in prison, his mother long-dead, no siblings and no friends to speak of.

But now it will echo with the memory of Harry's laughter, and the soft, burning gaze Harry gives him as he props himself up with his elbow in the middle of the pillows, and the way he tips his head back to give Theo full access to his mouth.

Theo does step away so he can say something before it gets lost between their tongues. Harry sits up and gives him a serious expression.

"I love you," Theo says. "I don't care if you can't say it back right now. I don't care if you break off the courtship someday. I _love_ you."

Harry smiles harder. "And I love you," he says. "Part of me always will, even if we break off the courtship. Now, enough talking, right?" And he wriggles out of his heavy maroon jumper and Muggle trousers before Theo can even blink.

Theo falls on him helplessly, grasping him and holding him with lips and hands, only drawing back when Harry insists that he take off his clothes, too. And his robe doesn't look ridiculous, pooled on the floor next to Harry's very un-wizardly clothing. It just looks _right_.

Harry kisses him and begins to work his way down Theo's body. Theo watches him, dazed, wondering, appreciating, and gasps aloud when Harry mouths his erection through the cloth of his pants.

"Can I?"

"Get _on_ with it! Don't ask!"

Harry laughs, before he pulls down Theo's pants and dives right in. Theo, his head stretched back and his mouth full of gasps now, _knows_ that Harry's never done this before. But you wouldn't know it from the way he pursues his goal: making Theo utterly incoherent. He lips and nibbles, draws back and comes back with his cheeks as much as his tongue, uses his hands to reach down and stroke behind Theo's bollocks, and Theo comes far before he's ready, soaking Harry's face.

Harry is laughing gently as he pulls back. "Sorry, I can't do anything as romantic and sexy as swallowing yet," he says, and takes off his dripping glasses.

Theo rolls over and dives at _him_. Harry has time for a widening of his eyes before Theo has his hands pinned behind his back, Harry on his stomach, and he's using his lips and tongue on Harry's neck and naked spine alone.

"Why don't you—Theo, _touch_ me, please—"

"Not right now," Theo says pleasantly, and focuses harder than ever on making Harry squirm and dance beneath him. He knows what he wants. Harry made him come with barely any experience. Theo is going to make Harry come using his hands and mouth, but _not_ where Harry wants them.

Harry continues to gasp and beg, and the bracelet on his wrist flashes as he struggles to get up, but Theo holds him down. He thrusts away the thought that part of the reason he might be able to do that is Harry's starvation as a child. There are no Dursleys in this bed. No Death Eaters. No past. Just them.

He kisses the knobs of Harry's spine and holds his wrists in front of him. He licks the nape of his neck and inhales the scent of his sweat and skin. He presses down with his thumbs on Harry's wrists, and that's finally what makes him wail and come.

 _He likes a tiny bit of pain,_ Theo thinks, licking his lips as he moves back. He watches from beneath lowered eyelids as Harry sits up and shakes his head with a gasp.

"That was—Theo—"

He doesn't attempt to speak after a few minutes. Instead, he curls up next to Theo, his head drooping, piled on Theo's shoulder. He's asleep before Theo can push his hair aside to look at the faded scar on his brow.

Theo curls himself harder around Harry, the protection and sharing that he promised, and drifts away himself. He has the best dreams he's ever had.

* * *

 _Offered Ring_

"I don't know if he'll accept it, of course."

"He probably won't. He's a pure-blood."

Harry doesn't answer as he wraps up the ring that he went and bought in Diagon Alley the day after he got back to the Burrow from Theo's house. Ginny sounds unhappy. She's sounded that way since Harry clasped Theo's bracelet around his wrist on Christmas Day.

And Harry thinks he knows why. But they've had enough distance from each other, and time, for Ginny to get back together with him if she really _wanted_ to. He's had enough of waiting. He's going to claim what he wants, now, and not sit around waiting for it.

"What happens if he objects to it?" Ginny asks, walking next to Harry as he heads away from Gryffindor Tower to the Owlery.

"Then he objects to it."

"What happens if he _re_ jects it?"

"Then he rejects it."

"You sound really calm for someone who might be betrothed tomorrow," Ginny snaps, halting beside him. Then she turns a little so that she's blocking the stair up to the Owlery and Harry can't get past her.

Harry looks into her eyes and holds them, calmly, until Ginny glances off to the side. "I'm willing to take risks with my heart," Harry finally says. "I can't control people if they want to walk away from me. That includes Theo. But I can finally _ask_ the question, instead of worrying that Voldemort is going to take away all my chances."

"Then you could have made the decision earlier."

"That, too. Or other people could have."

Harry waits, but Ginny isn't going to speak. He nods, a little sorrowful, and walks past her. He has a gift to post.

* * *

Theo opens the box at the lunch table. He knows immediately what it is, even though Harry's note fell out of the box and he hasn't read it yet. Harry said something about rings over the holidays, and Theo is damned if he's going to refuse the gesture.

He slides the ring onto his finger. Only then does he study it and reach for the note, "casually" covering it with one hand so that no one else at the Slytherin table can try and read it.

The ring itself is a simple silver band, decorated with a motif of twining leaves. The stone is a small ruby. Theo smiles. Harry liked the symbolism of the rubies on his own bracelet, once Theo explained more fully. It makes sense that he would have got a ring like that for him.

 _Theo,_

 _I don't have much sense of wizarding traditions, but it would make me happy and proud if you were to wear this ring. Then we can be betrothed, or engaged, or whatever other word we need to use. Affianced? I don't know, but I want you to be mine._

" _You're_ the first one who gets something like that?"

Theo glances at Draco, amused. "Should I be more worried that you're jealous, or more worried that you recognize this?" he asks. Draco is the last one he would have expected to know about Muggle engagement customs.

Draco flushes an immediate and brilliant red and turns away. Theo turns his head slowly, savoring the motion, and meets Harry's eyes from where he's sitting at the Gryffindor table. He nods once.

Harry's smile is so dazzling that it leaves Theo a little dazed. And wondering how in the _world_ he's going to come up with a gift that will top this.

* * *

 _Woven Blanket_

"Hello, Harry."

Theo is leaning against the wall outside NEWT Charms. They have the class together, but Harry can't let himself turn around and beam at his boyfriend all the time, or he'll just get distracted. He strides forwards now, and holds out his hand. Theo promptly slides the one that has Harry's ring on it out, so that their fingers are intertwined.

"Come with me up to the Room of Requirement?" Theo murmurs into his mouth. "It's time for your next gift."

Knowing that someone is courting him still makes Harry shudder and tingle all over. He nods. "Of course."

"Mate—"

Harry glances over his shoulder at Ron, who looks a little green, the way he always does when he's confronted with the evidence that not just he and Hermione have sex lives. "Don't wait up, Ron."

Theo is good enough to hold in his amusement until they're a few corridors away, and then he laughs in a soft way that Harry loves. "Is Weasley so ill because he doesn't like to contemplate two boys together?"

"He's like that every time someone else besides him talks about sex," Harry says. He glances sideways at Theo. "You know that no gift you give me could embarrass me? You don't have to take me up to the Room just to give me the gift."

"I know that. But I want to have you to myself sometimes."

Harry grins and leans harder against Theo as they take the stairs, making him struggle to keep upright for a second. "It _is_ annoying when the reporters snap pictures of us when we go to Hogsmeade, isn't it?"

"Most," Theo says softly, and then they're in front of the Room of Requirement. Theo paces back and forth, his expression intense, and then a small door appears. Theo opens it and ushers Harry inside.

Harry gasps as he ducks through the doorframe. The room beyond is blazing with light—flames from a huge hearth, radiance from lamps hanging on the walls, and moonlight reflected in a mirror that stands opposite the fireplace.

But what catches his eye and makes him shiver with desire is the huge green blanket draped over the back of a couch facing the fireplace. He can feel it softly radiating magic from here. He walks over and places his hands on it.

It feels like stroking a leopard, or at least the way Harry always imagined petting a leopard would feel. Harry leans forwards and places his cheek against the blanket. The warmth shoots straight through him, and he can feel the sensation of being held in someone's arms.

Theo's arms. There's an enchantment on the blanket that will make it feel like being held by Theo when it's wrapped around him.

"This is the best I could do," Theo says behind him. "I know that we can't be with each other at all times yet, but—"

Harry whirls around and grabs Theo in a tight embrace. Theo still always hesitates when he does that, but then he hugs Harry back, his chin dropping a little as if he wants to rest it on Harry's head.

"Thank you," Harry whispers. "It's the best gift anyone's ever given me—except all the other gifts that you've given me."

Theo pulls back with a smile, but his smile fades a little as he catches sight of Harry's bracelet. "You do know that if you let the courtship proceed to the end, we will—we'll be married, for all intents and purposes?"

Harry nods, holding Theo's gaze. "I know that. And I'm not afraid."

He gets a deep, heated kiss for that, and happily draws Theo to the couch so they can make love on top of the blanket.

* * *

 _Dress Robes_

"That's a _girly_ gift, Theodore."

Theo just lets the side of his mouth curl up as he opens the box. "You're jealous that you're the one not being courted by Harry Potter, Draco, that's all."

The other boy begins to splutter in a way that lets Theo know his speculation is indeed right. He ignores Draco for the nonce and pulls the dress robes inside out, letting them drape over his arm in a fall of shimmering fabric.

One of Theo's favorite colors is grey, something Harry would know, but he can't often wear it; with his pale skin and black hair, it makes him look washed out. Harry solved the problem by getting him _silver_ robes.

Silver worked with green, Theo sees when he tilts the hem of the robe back. It's a simple embroidery stitch, one that makes him smile. One can have _too_ much House pride, as he thought when he saw Harry wear scarlet robes to a Ministry gala Theo attended this summer. But Harry's scowl stands out in his memory more than the color of his robes.

If Harry sent this…

Then that means that he doesn't mind escorting Theo to the galas.

Theo settles back and meets Harry's eyes from across the Great Hall. Harry quietly toasts him, his face alight. Theo has to smile. Harry hates publicity, he hates attention, but he still sent Theo this gift in public and told him, with it, that he would submit to that attention _some_ of the time because he knows it's important to Theo to reestablish the Nott name and not look like he's hiding.

It's incredible, the man he chose without even realizing what he was doing.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for all the reviews! This is the last part of the story.

 _Part Three_

 _Formal Offer_

Harry taps the scroll against his hand and stares again at the braided red and blue ribbons that tie it closed. Then he shakes his head and goes back to pacing around the top of the Astronomy Tower. No, he has too many questions, and no answers that can be found just by staring at a sheet of parchment. He'll wait until Theo gets here, and _then_ he can ask them.

It's cloudy and chill around him, a typical April day at Hogwarts. Harry rests his hands on the battlements and listens to the soft click of his betrothal bracelet's jewels against the stone. He breathes deep and tries to think of something other than the offer the scroll contains.

But it's rather difficult.

Footsteps shoot up towards him, and Harry relaxes. After so much time spent together, he knows Theo's way of walking as well as the taste of his skin. He turns around with a smile, and Theo gives him one in return as he comes over to lean on the battlements next to Harry.

Harry exhales. "Well."

"Well." Theo turns towards him and sweeps a little half-bow that makes Harry gape at him in awe. Honestly, he could _never_ do that kind of thing. He's clumsy except when he's on a broom or making love with Theo. "I'm sorry for doing this in a less formal way than the traditional betrothal contract, but neither you nor I have family left. It's not as though I could approach your parents for permission, and I didn't think you would want me contacting your Muggles."

"Uh, _no_!" Harry says so hard that his voice cracks, and Theo's eyes narrow a little in what might be satisfaction. Harry hastily says, "Um, no. But—this is _less_ formal? Theo, I don't understand one word in three."

Theo's face softens and he takes another scroll from his pocket. "I knew that you might not, so I wrote out another offer in simpler language. The legal language is just the kind of thing that betrothal contacts demand at first."

"Why do you want to do a formal one at all?" Harry asks as he unties the green and scarlet ribbons on this contract. "You know that you're welcome to whatever I have, and I know we'll be sharing what you do."

"I want to do everything right," Theo says, and he reaches out and rests the ring on his finger over the bracelet on Harry's hand. "I want every _thing_ right. Unbreakable. Harry—for me this is for life."

Harry gapes at him, even though he never imagined walking away from marriage himself, and it's increasingly hard to imagine himself walking away from Theo. "I see," he whispers, and drops his gaze to the contract.

 _That Theodore Nott asks for the hand of Harry Potter, espoused and formal._

 _That he offers his residence, and all Nott properties, as houses that Harry Potter can live in, in perpetuity._

 _That he offers to share the Nott vaults, and give Harry Potter his own Gringotts key._

 _That he offers his body and his heart, and swears to be faithful._

 _That he will offer Harry Potter honesty when asked for, although it might be years before he answers certain questions._

 _That he will offer his bed and his life and anything else he acquires that is not houses or money to Harry Potter in full half share._

 _That he offers his love and his attention that will never wander._

 _That he agrees to adopt children if Harry Potter wants them._

 _That he agrees to combine their names or take the Potter name, if that is what Harry Potter wants._

 _That he will give up everything else, to have Harry Potter at his side._

Harry swallows and looks up with a croak. Theo is watching him with luminous eyes, a kind of light in them that Harry never realized he could have.

"I mean it," Theo repeats softly. "For me, this is for life."

"For me, too," Harry says, but his voice is still a croak. He clears his throat. "I promise that I'll give you a formal reply to your contract, Theo, and it'll be everything that you need and deserve and want. I just—need to think about the wording first. I don't want to just imitate your wording."

"I appreciate that." Theo gently trails his knuckles along Harry's cheek. "Please make sure that you look up the right protocols, or get someone to look them up for you. I'm legally not allowed to give you advice, and I'm not allowed by tradition to tell you what I want. I have to make an offer, and you have to decide what you're willing to offer in return."

"Even though we might both know that we agree and we'll accept anything that either of us offers?"

"Even then."

Theo gives him a soft, sweet kiss, before he turns and walks back down from the Astronomy tower, and leaves Harry clutching the contract in a way that makes it feel more like a lifeline than the millstone it might have been before.

* * *

 _Informal Answer_

Theo closes his eyes and admits it to himself as he flattens the contract on the table in front of him: he's nervous. Harry might not have followed the pure-blood traditions and protocols correctly in his response to Theo's contract.

Theo will still absolutely accept his hand in bonding if he didn't, of course. But it will make it harder, and he will wonder, in one part of himself, whether Harry cares as much about him as the dress robes and the ring say he does.

Theo looks down at the contract.

It's actually two, he sees a second later, a smaller, sleeker piece of parchment peeking out from beneath the top one. And the top one…is a legal contract. Not the perfect mirror of the one that Theo offered him at first, but done in the same kind of language. Harry cared enough to find a solicitor for this.

Theo blinks tears aside. He brushes the looping legal calligraphy, covered with gold dust, with a single finger. Then he puts aside that contract, even though he can understand it far more easily than Harry could, to study the second one, the important one.

 _That Harry Potter agrees to take the hand of Theodore Nott, espoused and formal._

 _That he offers the house at Grimmauld Place for Theodore Nott to live in until he's tired of it, because he pretty much doesn't have any other houses, and sorry but there's a screaming portrait on the wall of the one he does have._

 _That he offers Theodore Nott a vault key to his own vaults, and apologizes for the state of them, with coins all over the floor, which probably isn't what he wanted to see._

 _That Harry Potter offers Theodore Nott his bed, his life, his heart, his soul—wait, no, scratch that last part, probably, there are_ really good _reasons not to promise that._

 _That Harry Potter can promise he'll never look at anyone else, because he would be a fool to do that._

 _That Harry Potter promises to stand at Theodore Nott's side, and offer him whatever else he asks for that this contract doesn't cover._

 _That Harry Potter thinks it's a good idea to combine their names, whichever way Theodore Nott thinks best—just don't approve Notter, please—and discuss adopting children at a later date._

 _That Harry Potter is getting pretty tired of writing in a formal way and starting every sentence with "That," and that he hopes Theodore Nott is prepared to accept this contract as his best effort._

Theo lays the contract down. They have things to negotiate, still, but his heart is bursting and soaring the way it did when Harry offered him the ring.

They are going to do things _properly_.

* * *

 _Public Acknowledgement_

Theo steps into the Great Hall with a small box in his hands and a determined expression on his face.

Harry feels his heart jump, and smiles in a way that he thinks is probably stupid. But stupid or not, Theo is going to do this exactly the way he's doing it. And that's his choice. Harry wouldn't try to convince him otherwise.

He watches as Theo walks towards him. The Slytherin table is chattering like a flock of magpies, but they fall silent as they watch Theo come closer and closer to the Gryffindor one. Harry thought everyone knew by now that he and Theo were courting, but maybe some people thought it was a rumor and didn't believe it.

 _Now they'll have to,_ Harry thinks, and touches the wire of the bracelet embedded into his wrist before he steps forwards to meet Theo.

"Harry Potter," Theo says softly, and then slides to one knee right in the middle of the Great Hall. "In confirmation of our contracts, and our betrothal, I bring you a key to my vaults at Gringotts."

There are people whispering and gaping and actually asking questions now. Harry doesn't pay attention to any of them. He smiles and reaches out to take the box from Theo. It's small but unexpectedly heavy. He realizes as he opens it that it's not covered in silver paper, the way he assumed. It's _made_ of silver.

In the center of a small velvet cushion like the one he gave Theo the mirror on is a shining golden key. Harry picks it up and sees it's on a slender chain, also made of silver. He hangs the key gently around his neck and leans down to kiss Theo lingeringly.

That seems to be too much for their audience, some of whom sound as if they're going to literally explode.

"Potter and _Nott_?"

"Potter and a _Death Eater_?"

"Potter and a _Slytherin_?"

"I don't believe it! Nott must be controlling him somehow!"

"Potter is immune to the Imperius Curse, though!"

"Who cares about that? There are such things as love potions!"

Harry rolls his eyes and reaches down to draw Theo to his feet. Theo comes up gracefully, although he's clenching his jaw. Harry hopes he still thinks it's worth it to bond with Harry after all the stupid insinuations.

But right now, it's not for Theo to fight them. Harry turns around, with his arm tight on Theo's shoulders, and says, "You're all idiots."

That at least silences them. Harry snorts a little and faces Theo again, stroking the sides of his cheeks, and watches his eyes flutter shut. Meanwhile, Harry continues in a loud voice so that all the idiots on all sides of the Great Hall can hear him.

"I'm going to marry Theodore Nott because I love him. There's no love potion. He was never a Death Eater. That's his father, who's now serving a life sentence in Azkaban. As for his House, that won't matter once we take the NEWT's, and in the meantime, _I_ was almost a Slytherin. The Hat wanted to put me there. So shove your bigotry, will you?"

Theo's eyes snap open. He grabs Harry's arms and drags him out of the Great Hall. Harry blinks and goes along with him. All he can think of is that something he said must have violated some clause of that torturous formal contract.

The moment they're out of the Great Hall, Theo presses him up against the wall and stares at him piercingly. "When were you going to tell _me_ that you were almost a Slytherin?"

"Er. I mean, I just forget about it most of the time. I only said it now because I couldn't stand to hear them gossiping about you, like being a Slytherin is somehow a horrible thing to be."

Theo leans hard on him and kisses him so that his mouth tingles. "I appreciate the defense. In the future, you are _going_ to tell me those secrets, those private things about yourself, when we're in private. No more sacrificing them to appease the sensibilities of people who could never appreciate them."

"You're actually _jealous_?"

"I want to know everything about you. As much as possible, before anyone else does," Theo says passionately. "Promise me, Harry."

"Er, yes," Harry says, still a little bewildered. He wouldn't have thought that him being in Slytherin was some great secret. He genuinely doesn't think about it most of the time. On the other hand, he wants Theo to have everything he wants. "If that's the way you want it to be."

Theo cups the back of his neck and kisses him again. "It is."

* * *

 _Passionate Secret_

Theo knows the moment Harry halts in front of him that he has something to say. Theo draws in a deep breath to calm his nerves before he smiles at Harry. He keeps being afraid that Harry will come to his senses, or at least wake up from the loving trance that seems to have given him to Theo in the first place, and call the marriage off.

But Harry meets Theo's gaze, and nods a little before he leans forwards to kiss him, ignoring, as usual, the fact that they're right in the middle of the Charms corridor. "Can you come with me? I want to tell you something."

 _I want to know everything about you._

Theo feels his heartbeat pick up. He nods and makes sure, one time, that he has all his books before he follows Harry towards Gryffindor Tower. Some of the Slytherins who still haven't learned from the war like to hex his belongings, as if they think a torn page in a book will somehow convince him not to bond with Harry.

 _They only wish they were in my place,_ Theo thinks complacently. It's true for Draco at least, and probably for most of the others. Not that they want specifically to bond with _Harry Potter_ , but having someone beautiful and powerful and giving fall in love with them? That's not something most of his classmates are ever going to have.

 _And none of them are ever going to have Harry._

Harry turns around when they're on the fourth floor, and nods to a small door that leads into a little-used classroom. "I'm going to tell you here. It's more private than my bedroom in Gryffindor Tower could ever be."

Theo knows why. Harry's roommates don't seem to be gossipy people on first glance, at least not worse than Slytherins. But they do tend to blurt things out, and Theo wants this to be as solitary as possible. He enters the classroom, and immediately feels the hum of the numerous privacy spells Harry's set up.

Whatever this is, it's important.

Theo turns around. Harry steps towards him and then stops, staring at the floor. Theo promptly tilts his head back up.

"I want to know," he says softly. "I don't care how dark it is or how shameful. It's part of _you_ , so I want to know."

Harry nods, and his eyes dart up once before he reaches out and his hand closes hard around Theo's. "I didn't know about magic before I was eleven," he confesses in a low voice. "Hagrid is the one who brought me to the wizarding world. My relatives told me my parents died in a car crash."

Theo tightens his hold on Harry's face. They went to Muggle London once, and he knows exactly what a car looks like now. "I can still torture them if you want."

"No, I still just never want to see my aunt and uncle again." Harry draws in a charged breath, and Theo realizes that wasn't the whole secret. "My—I know my parents are heroes now. I know they loved me. But I grew up resenting them _so much_ , Theo, for dying and stranding me with the Dursleys. Sometimes I still have dreams where they found some other way to survive, or where they never fought against Voldemort at all. And sometimes I still think when I wake up that that would be better."

Theo clutches his fingers and says nothing. It sounds like Harry has to purge a lot of poison before he'll be done.

"And then I found out that my parents were heroes, and I didn't know what to _do_ with that." Harry stares at their joined hands. "And I found out that Dumbledore was the one who left me with the Dursleys, and I found out other things about him later, too. He wasn't as heroic as I thought he was. I won't blurt out all those secrets because everyone reveres him and they _need_ someone to revere. It keeps them from trying to do that to me."

He raises his eyes and locks them with Theo's. "There are times I hate and resent him, Theo, so that I don't have to hate and resent my parents."

Theo pulls Harry forwards and holds him securely in his arms. Harry has closed his eyes; Theo knows from the delicate brush of eyelashes against his shoulder.

"I don't know what to _do_ ," Harry whispers. "It just seems like—so much. Most of the time everything is fine, but then sometimes someone praises Dumbledore or tells me _again_ that my parents are heroes and they died fighting for the greater good, and I have to walk away."

"That's perfectly fine," Theo whispers back. "Remind me to tell you sometime how much I resent my father."

"But—you don't think I'm petty for it?"

"You would rather they had lived for you. It wasn't possible, but you'd rather it was."

Harry's arms tighten until Theo feels as if he can't breathe. He treasures each moment of it. "Yes. That's exactly it. Fuck, why are you so good at saying everything I'm thinking?"

Theo gently eases back and uses his thumbs to rub tears from Harry's cheeks. "What is your betrothed for?"

* * *

 _Gift of the Self_

Harry's heart is full.

He stands next to Theo, both of them wearing dark blue robes embroidered with silver. Harry knows those colors stand for the night sky, for the soft arch of darkness above them that blesses their union.

His friends keep giving him sidelong glances for choosing to bond at night. Harry doesn't care. He likes the tradition that Theo explained to him: both that bonding at night has been a tradition in the Nott family for a long time, and that it lets the dead, who are stronger in the darkness than in the light, attend the ceremony.

A small fire burns between them. Theo turns and extends his hand. Harry reaches across the fire to clasp it.

"I welcome you to my family," Theo begins in a low voice, "with my whole heart. I swear to you that no one shall come in my heart before you."

"I swear the same." Harry draws his breath in and thinks he sees a flicker of silver off to the side, as if a spirit is there, before he continues the vow. "I welcome you to my bed, with my whole body. I swear to you that I shall grace no one else with my body."

"I swear the same." Theo's hand tightens crushingly. Harry knows that he'll both keep that vow and go to insane lengths to ensure that Harry does. Not that he needs to; Harry doesn't _want_ anyone else. "I welcome you to my mind, with all my thoughts circling over you and pivoting towards your good. I swear to you that no one else shall enter my mind unless it is after you."

"I swear the same." Harry is glad that Theo left this last vow to him, even if he's so nervous saying it that his voice shakes. "I welcome you to my self, to the vast bounds of it and to the depths of it, to the dark and the light. I swear to you that no one else shall know as much of what is hidden there as you do."

"I swear the same."

The ring on Theo's finger and the bracelet on Harry's wrist begin to blaze like stars. Harry catches his breath. He knew this would happen if they meant the vows, and of course they both _do,_ but it's still amazing to watch.

The ring flows like a silver serpent around Theo's hand, reshaping itself into a single ring far back on his finger, a bracelet on his wrist, and a slender chain that connects them. Then all the metal sparkles and sinks into Theo's skin to form a permanent mark. Harry's bracelet does the same, although his ring and chain, like his bracelet, are on his right hand, and he's already used to them being part of the skin.

He raises his eyes and sees two familiar shades standing behind Theo. From the way Theo's eyes widen, he's seeing the shade of his mother behind Harry, but Harry can't turn to look, even though he wants to see her. Theo has promised that Harry can see her at the Fire of the Dead on Halloween, and Harry is going to hold him to that.

Instead, he feasts his eyes on his parents, his mother and father arm in arm, and their forgiving smiles that tell him they know the secret he told Theo and they're fine with it. He smiles at them, and his eyes well with tears, and sometime in between when the tears start and when Harry dashes them away, his Mum and Dad are gone.

Theo leans forwards to kiss him, and the small wedding party—Hermione, the Weasleys, Malfoy, Bulstrode, and a few Slytherins Harry doesn't know well—begin to cheer. Their voices echo into the darkness of the summer night, the night of the thirty-first of August, thirteen months to the day that Theo sent Harry the carved raven for his birthday.

* * *

"Ah, _Theo…_ "

Harry has his head tossed back on his pillow, his crisp dark hair almost blending with the dark blue of the silk. Theo is gritting his teeth to hold himself back as he sinks into Harry's body. They're in his bedroom at Nott Manor, where they made love for the first time, although in darkness except for the soft light of the moon through the window, as is traditional for a Nott bonding.

 _Potter-Nott, now,_ Theo thinks smugly. That's the combination of their names now, and he thinks it's a good one.

"Move, already."

Observations and irrelevant thoughts flee. Theo rocks forwards, thrusts, and Harry's head is more than thrown back before him, it's thrown back in glee, in triumph, and Theo loses everything except the sensation of heat around him and the glorious future before them.

He gives Harry everything he has, everything Harry can take, in imitation of their bonding vows, in keeping of them, and they don't make love for very long before Harry comes with a drawn out half-grunt, half-sigh. Theo follows him the second he can feel Harry's body squeezing around him. _Merlin_ , it's perfect.

Theo sags down on Harry, and stays there. He's going to hold Harry throughout the night, and stay in his body as long as he can. It isn't many hours until sunrise, with the early summer dawns. He'll wake tomorrow, and know that the first of September is a beginning, but not the beginning of the school years they've finished. It'll be the start of their life together, and that matters far more.

Harry turns and snuggles into Theo's arms. "I saw my parents," he says around a yawn. "They're okay. They know."

"Good," Theo says, and not anything else. He can't tell Harry, not yet, of how he saw his mother standing behind Harry, her dark eyes full of yearning.

But he will. He'll tell Harry that, because all their secrets belong to each other now.

Harry's arms come up and clasp him, and he says, "I love you, Theo."

"I love you, Harry," Theo says, and drops his head so that he can rest his cheek against his husband's.

And the world turns towards morning.

 **The End.**


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